As I browsed the local internet Marketplace page, I was stunned to count over one hundred used nativity sets for sale. The sets ranged from the loveliest porcelain designs to the lowliest plastic children’s versions. Each set was tagged with its own price.
The Advent season was upon us, a time to look forward to celebrating the greatest gift God has bestowed upon humanity: His Son, Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. Yet instead of gracing the sellers' homes as reminders of what the season is about, these nativity scenes were being sold. They had lost their spiritual value and simply become a way of making extra money at Christmas.
The first nativity scene dates to 1223, when St. Francis of Assisi, a traveling monk, set up a live nativity scene as part of a Christmas Eve mass. Since then, untold numbers of nativity sets have blessed the homes of believers and churches yearly to celebrate the Savior’s birth.
How sad to see so many once-treasured reminders of the truth of Christmas being sold. I wondered who would buy them? Antique dealers? Christians? Collectors? I had no idea to whom they would go. Perhaps some would remain unsold and be packed away, while others would be tossed in the garbage bin.
As I viewed a multitude of sets, all I could think of was Judas Iscariot, who willingly gave Jesus up to the authorities for thirty pieces of silver. He traded the Son of God for a paltry palm of coins. But what do we trade for Jesus? Why are so many nativities no longer valued reminders at Christmas of whom we should celebrate?
Like Judas, many have chosen to give Jesus up for what the world offers: a mythical man bearing gifts and riding in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, a time to party, a time to give and get and feel good about both, a time to enjoy a few days from work.
Ultimately, Judas’ trade cost him everything, including his life and soul. Without the true meaning of Christmas coming into our lives through faith in Christ Jesus—the babe depicted in the creche scenes—we lose everything of true worth.
Throughout the year, value the babe in the manger and Christ in your heart.
Lynne Phipps and her family live on a small hobby farm in the heart of Alberta, Canada’s farming country. She has been writing devotions for forty years and never tires of the spiritual correlation the Holy Spirit blesses her with. He uses normal everyday events and the behaviors of the multitude of glorious creatures He has brought across her path to point her to the truths of God. Lynne is a devotion writer for VineWords: Devotions and More, Christian Devotions, and The Illustrator.